Failed drug test could stop flow of benefits

WORKINGFailed drug test could stop the flow of benefits

L.M. SIXEL, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Published 5:30 am, Friday, April 1, 2011

If you want to collect unemployment benefits, the government may need to collect a little something from you.

One of the bills snaking its way through the Texas Legislature this session would require anyone who applies for unemployment benefits beginning next year to pass a drug test. No urine? Then no weekly benefit checks.

A similar proposal failed by only a couple of votes in the Texas House during the last legislative session, and those closely watching the lawmakers believe it could pass this time, if its sponsor can figure out how to fund it.

It's also becoming something of a trend as Arkansas, Indiana and New Mexico have similar bills pending, said Maurice Emsellem, policy co-director of the New York based-National Employment Law Project, which advocates for low-wage workers. He called it the "height of absurdity" to threaten unemployment benefits for those hardest hit by the worst labor market since the Great Depression.

Rep. Ken Legler, R-Pasadena, who introduced the bill in the Texas Legislature, noted that the state requires recipients of unemployment benefits to be able, ready and willing to work.

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Legler estimates that 90 percent of the employers in his district, where manufacturing is dominant, require prospective hires to pass a pre-employment drug test.

"You may be willing, but you're not able to work because you can't pass the drug test," Legler said.

Many failed

Legler said he learned that firsthand at his company, Houston Wire Works, which makes wine racks and other wire beverage displays. When he was staffing up about a decade ago, Legler estimated, 40 percent to 50 percent of the applicants failed the drug test.

Still getting paid

Each test cost him about $25, so Legler asked some of the workers why they bothered to submit an application if they knew they'd fail. He said they told him they had to apply for jobs to continue receiving unemployment benefits.

If they turned down a job offer, they'd be in danger of losing their benefits, but if they were rejected by a company, the workers would continue to get paid, he recalled.

"I said, 'This is wrong,'" Legler recalled. "They should not be collecting unemployment benefits if they're not eligible and available to work."

Besides requiring a drug test to get unemployment benefits, Legler's bill would disqualify job seekers who fail drug tests required by prospective employers. And recipients who kept getting benefits after failing an employer's test could be required to return the money.

The only exception would be for job seekers participating in drug abuse treatment programsor taking medically necessary drugs prescribed by physicians, according to the bill.

Defeating the bill has become one of the top legislative priorities of the Texas AFL-CIO.

"It's an insult to the hundreds of thousands of Texans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own that they need to prove to the state that they don't use drugs," said Rick Levy, legal director for the Texas AFL-CIO in Austin.

State expenses

While Legler said he has the support of several business groups, he also has an uphill climb: He has to find $135 million to pay for the tests themselves, additional employee salaries, furniture and other expenses to run the program from 2012 to 2016.

According to the Legislative Budget Board's financial analysis, Texas would pay out nearly $411 million less in unemployment benefits in the 2012-2016 period if the state began drug testing. That assumes that 3.6 percent of applicants would fail the tests and is based on average weekly benefits, according to the board.

The state can't pay the tab from payroll taxes Texas employers contribute to the unemployment insurance trust fund, because those must be used to pay benefits, Emsellem said.

Nor is it likely the federal government, which pays the administrative cost of the program, would cover the tab.

According to the Department of Labor, a state can use its administrative funds to pay for drug testing, but probably wouldn't get additional money to cover the extra costs, said Department of Labor spokeswoman Elizabeth Todd in Dallas.

'It actually saves jobs'

Legler said that he hopes the state's general revenue funds will pick up the $135 million tab and is investigating other sources.

He also argues that the Budget Board is overestimating the price tag. For example, he said, necessary office equipment already is available because of state layoffs.

"It actually saves jobs," said Legler, who figures the measure will eventually trim a company's payroll tax bill if fewer workers are eligible for benefits.

But the AFL-CIO's Levy argues the $135 million would be better spent saving the jobs of teachers and other government employees rather than turning Texas into a "über-drug tester."